Concentration-related enhancement of the sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanoparticles to the characteristics of a dielectric environment

Abstract

We present the results of theoretical and experimental studies of the optical attenuation spectra of planar nanocomposites consisting of close-packed monolayers of metallic nanoparticles placed in different dielectric matrices. We have analyzed the dependence of the spectral position of the collective surface plasmon resonance (collective SPR) on the refractive index of the dielectric environment. The experimental samples were created by successive thermal vaporization under vacuum of a metal and a dielectric. The theoretical calculations were performed using the quasicrystal approximation of multiple wave scattering theory. We have shown that an increase in the concentration of nanoparticles of noble metals shifts the maximum of the collective SPR band toward longer wavelengths, and significantly increases the sensitivity of its spectral position to the refractive index of the dielectric environment.